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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Maryanka do when Dmitri returns to Russia?

2. What political stance do the Muslim Tartars typically take?

3. How does Marya say her marriage to Sergey affects her relationship with the world?

4. What aspect of Sergey's personality does Marya respond to?

5. How does Ivan Ilych begin his career?

Short Essay Questions

1. Which ending of "The Devil" seems to be preferable?

2. When do Ivan Ilych and Praskovya Federovna finally arrive at a truce?

3. Describe Dmitri's departure from the Caucasus.

4. Describe the circumstances of Lukashka's death.

5. What torments Eugene Irtenev, and how does he plan to end his suffering?

6. What does Dmitri Olenin think he will find in the Caucasus?

7. How does illness affect Ivan Ilych?

8. What does Dmitri discover about the Chechens?

9. How does Praskovya Federovna's bad temper affect Ivan Ilych?

10. What does Marya think about her marriage at first?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the essential "Russianness" in Tolstoy's stories? Describe it in three of his short stories. Does Tolstoy show it by contrast with other cultures, or by description, or some other means?

Essay Topic 2

Many characters in Tolstoy's stories learn and grow throughout the stories. Analyzing three stories, describe the and compare the kinds of growth Tolstoy portrays: are there commonalities? Is growth always in the direction of moral and spiritual enlightenment? If not, what other kinds of growth does Tolstoy describe?

Essay Topic 3

Is Tolstoy's literary universe a chaotic one, as people say modern life is chaotic or random--or is it organized around some law or consistency? What law Tolstoy's fictional world organized around?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 708 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample